Microsoft has recently released the System Center Service Manager 2012 Beta. In this series of articles, I’m going to show you how to install the newest version of SCSM so you can start using it right away.
Today we’ll go over what System Center Service Manager 2012 is and what it has to offer. We’ll also take a look at the software and hardware requirements that you’ll need in order to successfully complete the installation. In future posts we’ll cover the Service Manager console server components, SQL 2008 R2 server components, data warehouse server components and the self-service portal server components. Here’s an outline of the complete series:
- Part 2: Installing the Service Management Server
- Part 3: Installing the Data Warehouse Server
- Part 4: Configuration Manager 2007 R3 Connector Configuration
- Part 5: Active Directory Connector Configuration
- Part 6: Self-Service Portal Installation
After completing the steps outlined in this series of articles you will have a fully operational base installation of Service Manager 2012 Beta platform. After that I’ll publish regular updates on how to make use of your Service Manager 2012 install as a professional Service Desk solution.
Now, let’s take a look at what System Center Service Manager is and what the new 2012 Beta version has to offer.
What Is System Center Service Manager 2012?
System Center Service Manager 2012 delivers an integrated platform for automating and adapting IT Service Management best practices to your organization’s requirements. Service Manager can help your organization to increase productivity, reduce costs, improve resolution times, and meet compliance standards. Its built-in processes are based on industry best practices such as those found in Microsoft Operations Framework (MOF) and the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL). Included in Service Manager are the core process management packs for incident and problem resolution, change control, and configuration and knowledge management.
Through its configuration management database (CMDB) and process integration, Service Manager 2012 automatically connects knowledge and information from System Center Operations Manager, System Center Configuration Manager, and Active Directory Domain Services.
Here are some new features in System Center Service Manager 2012:
- Self-Service Portal – The portal within Service manager has always been the interactive window to/from the end-user. Where helpdesk / admin people are relying on the SCSM full blown console, and end user can issue new incidents, go through knowledge articles, etc within this portal. In SCSM 2010, the functionality was rather limited. In the upcoming version 2012, it is based on Sharepoint WebParts, which allows for full customization and integration in your existing Sharepoint (2010 required!!). If your organization has no Sharepoint 2010 running, you can deploy the free Sharepoint Foundation.
- Orchestratror / Opalis integration – One of the newest things within SCSM 2010 will be the integration of System Center Orchestrator, the former Opalis workflow automation engine. This will allow for automatic resolving tickets, deploying new VMs (if SC VMM is used as well).
- Service Requests / Release Management – There will be 2 new features released within the product, one called Service Request, and another one called Release Management. These are some kind of “elevated / grown-up” change requests. The focus here lies on the activities, and the close relationship to Configuration Items.
- OLAP Cubes in Data Warehouse / Reporting – The DataWarehouse / reporting engine within SCSM 2012 will allow you to gather data from multiple (System Center) sources (SCOM, SCCM,…), as well as other systems within your organization (SAP, in-house developed applications, etc). By using OLAP cubes, it will be possible to create professional looking reports in Excel or Sharepoint, just by using easy drag-and-drop.
- Minor updates / Bug fixes – I explicitly mention this topic last; as with every new version of a Microsoft product, a lot of new features are developed, but the product teams also take care of the customer’s and partner’s feedback on issues / missing features in the existing version of the product.
Each of the aforementioned topics will be discussed later on in following posts.
System Center Service Manager 2012 – System Requirements
Before starting your System Center Service Manager 2010 Beta installation, let’s go over the software and hardware system requirements. It is important to mention that each Service Manager server component needs to be installed on a separate server instance. Service Manager roles cannot be combined on the same server.
This means a minimal Service Manager installation requires 4 servers; preferably, these are configured as virtual machines to save hardware investments.
SCSM 2012 Software Requirements
Service Manager 2012 requires Windows Server 2008 R2 Operating System SP1, Standard or Enterprise edition, combined with the following software components.
| Service Manager Server component requirements(valid for all server components, including:-Management server–database server–service manager console–data warehouse server–self-service portal |
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| Database Server |
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| Service Manager console |
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| Self-Service Portal |
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| Browser accessing the Self-Service Portal |
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SCSM 2012 Hardware Requirements
The Service Manager 2012 infrastructure can be installed on physical hardware or within a virtualized platform. The table below gives a summarized overview of the recommended hardwarerequirements:
Service Manager Server component requirements(valid for all server components, like:
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| Service Manager console |
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Conclusion
Now that you’ve got a good overview of what System Center Service Manager 2012 has to offer and what you’ll need in order to install it, we’ll move on to the installation steps in the next article.